Bengaluru, November 7: The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB), which is probing the Ambidant ponzi scam, has declared former Minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy an absconder. City Police Commissioner T S Suneel Kumar on Wednesday formed a special team to trace down Reddy and arrest him.

After the CCB had gathered evidence which proved the money trail leading to Reddy, he was summoned for questioning multiple times. The Ballari strongman, however, refrained from answering the summons.

When Bellary's Ramesh was questioned he informed that the gold was given to Janardhan Reddy's PA Ali. Reddy is absconding now and there is no arrest warrant against him. Reddy will be summoned for questioning as we need to recover 57 kgs of gold: T Suneel Kumar, CP Bengaluru https://t.co/r8S7BWLSOf

Addressing the press, CP Suneel Kumar said Fareed, the owner of Ambidant which has duped investors to the tune of Rs 600 crores, had transferred 18 crores to a Bengaluru-based bullion trader. The trader in-turn sent 57 kg of gold in form ingots to Ramesh Kothari, the owner of Rajmahal Fancy Jewellers. Kothari then transferred the gold to Ali Khan, a close accomplice of Reddy.

Ambidant is accused of defrauding nearly 15,000 people in Karnataka region in 2016-17. Posing as an investment firm, the company had promised depositors 30-40 percent return per annum -- a promise to which they did not comply. The quantum of scam amounts to nearly Rs 600 crores.